@VintageFreak,
I like CTFAX and I've owned it for a good number of years. Most times it's bond allocation is North of 80% and during stock market pullbacks it loads equities. Currently, it is about 90% fixed & 10% equity. However, it only makes distribution two times per year (June and December). It will be after the June distribution before I cut any new money into it. With sizeable distributions comes a high draw down percent (DD).

I am a fan of Dan Fuss and crew.
My largest position in a core bond fund is NEFZX. Over the past ten years it has served me well.
Another core bond fund that I'm happy with is LBNDX.
And, yet another one is TSIAX.
These three funds combined make up about 50% of my income sleeve. The other three funds held within this sleeve are BAICX, CTFAX & GIFAX.
I've been thinking of adding to NEFZX & CTFAX.

Was not rehashing the full and tortuous history, of course. Adopted secure 2-factor had to be stronger than a static PIN or password plus the token, and so the first factor became dynamic and unknowable, the result of pseudorandom-number (PRN) generation, with Rivest's (RSA) algorithm the leader (still, I believe) and his first paper (in ACM) was from the late 1970s, I think. Security Dynamics (later RSA) is where I worked for many years. Weiss promulgated that work, and more, and turned it into a going company, yes. Was not aware he coined the phrase, or maybe I have forgot.

@Wllmatt72,
I’d agree with you about their New Income Fund (PRCIX). Never could figure out what they were trying to do with it and never owned it.
I’d also admit that fixed income generally hasn’t been Price’s strong suit. I think they made a lot of progress under Mary Miller who served as their head of fixed income from 2004 until 2009 when Obama tapped her to work for Treasury. Backslid perhaps since than - though their more aggressive offerings like EM and high yield have prospered. In digging up what I could tonight I stumbled across a blurb from Price that their current head of fixed income will retire at year’s end. I thought it was worth posting as a separate thread.
RPSIX, which I mentioned in the earlier post, isn’t a bond fund per se. Price classifies it as an asset allocation fund. While bonds are not their forte, Price has proven itself through its wise allocation decisions over the years. Here’s the funds in which RPSIX may invest. Generally, it has a stake in most, but not all of these, at any given time. Sorry I couldn’t find a way to copy the exact percentages.
Corporate Income Fund
Emerging Markets Bond Fund
Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund
Equity Income Fund
Floating Rate Fund
GNMA Fund
High Yield Fund
Inflation Protected Bond Fund
International Bond Fund
Limited Duration Inflation Focused Bond Fund
New Income Fund
Short-Term Bond Fund
U.S. Treasury Intermediate Fund
U.S. Treasury Long-Term Fund
U.S. Treasury Money Fund

I am still holding RHS although I did reduce it a bit, and each day I watch it go down I fight hard not to do anything. It's not easy, it has always done well in the past, have had it for 5 years and it does hold up in bad times, lets hope people start buying soup and soda again :)

Here is an excerpt from an email I received from Vanguard. Looks like they have not given up on converting everyone over to their brokerage services ( I did not convert my account over).
From the email:
Be on the lookout for a request from Vanguard
Over the past few years, we've made some technology enhancements. As a result of these improvements, we'll be asking all of our clients to complete a quick, 3-step process to transition from our old investment platform to our new investment platform.
You don't need to take any action today—we simply want to let you know about the transition. You'll receive another email shortly that provides more detail.
A little more background
Having all our clients transition will help simplify things—for you and for us. It will enable us to lower our operating expenses and give us more money to invest in the new platform. And that translates to an even better investment experience for you.
Thanks for helping us move into the future of investing.

FYI: This week, we speak with famed short seller Jim Chanos, founder and president of Kynikos Associates LP, the world’s largest exclusive short-selling investment firm.
Chanos has identified — and sold short — many of the past 3 decades best-known corporate disasters. His celebrated short-sale of Enron shares was dubbed by Barron’s as “the market call of the decade, if not the past 50 years.” He also made bets against Baldwin-United, Commodore International, Coleco, Integrated Resources, Boston Chicken, Sunbeam, Conseco, Tyco International, and most recently, Valeant Pharmaceuticals.
He explains why he believes Elon Musk’s first love is SpaceX, and that “Tesla is a zero.”
Chanos said that when he launched Kynikos, there were a few 100 hedge funds, only 20 or 30 of which generating alpha. He presently sits on a number of boards where he helps to allocate capital. Market participants have gotten better, the landscape has become more competitive, and the funds have turned into large 300-person businesses. Despite 11,000 hedge fund choices, today there are even fewer hedge funds outperforming.
He asks, via Julian Robertson, the all important question “What is your edge.” Most managers lack a sustainable edge — trading, research, deviant perception — as reversion to mean is such a powerful process.
Regards,
Ted
http://ritholtz.com/2018/05/mib-jim-chanos-edge/

@BenWP,
Just bought into the fund this past January as I did look at the past history with not much indicated. At $55 dollars a share, $2,500 doesn't buy much. I do have it in a taxable account with the transfer agent.
Most of my mid-cap holdings (except POAGX) have a history of paying significantly more cgs/dividends than my small cap funds.
Fund still has small asset base with not much outflow. If there were a lot of outflows similar to that of Turner's Microcap/Emerging Growth fund during its last couple of years of existence, I would be worried.
Here is the 2017 prospectus link:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/720309/000119312517297883/d459672d485bpos.htm
Look at the footnotes in the financials for more information concerning dividends.

@TheShadow: I was wondering about MECAX annual distributions. M* has no info at all and the AMG site seems to say there were none paid for 2017. Hard to square with a 98% turnover ratio. The same managers run the Cadence mid-cap fund which has paid nose-bleed distributions for the last four years. It may not matter to you if your holding is in a tax-deferred account.

Morning @hank
Perhaps I should forgo a late night post, when I awaken at 5am on the same day.
--- Gov't. issue bonds/bills and the spread among the yields. Yes, the 2 and 10 year yield is narrowing again, as well as the 10 and 30 year yield spread which closed yesterday at 15 basis points. This spread continues to slowly narrow from the past year; even though both yields are significantly higher than one year ago.
---Bonds corporate, LQD found about a +.50%, which is a strong positive reversal of the trend for the year so far. May be nothing more than a technical trade by the big kids; but I do watch these bonds in particular, as so many ($'s) have been issued over the past years to finance take over, acquisitions, etc.
---VIX = Technically speaking, the CBOE Volatility Index does not measure the same kind of volatility as most other indicators. Volatility is the level of price fluctuations that can be observed by looking at past data. Instead, the VIX looks at expectations of future volatility, also known as implied volatility. Times of greater uncertainty (more expected future volatility) result in higher VIX values, while less anxious times correspond with lower values. (From Investopedia)
>>>I watch VIX strictly for the above description of the sentiment of those involved in trading this area. I don't trade this, but mingle the indicator with other market factors.
You noted "new cars sales down"..... Reportedly, 1/3 of new car sales for 2017 were leases (counted as a new car sale). To this, I saw a tv crawl on Bloomberg that used car prices are down. Also, that the ads I see for new car leases continue to reflect lower monthly lease prices, and in many cases; there is no increase in "up front" money, or no "up front" money at all required by the customer. So, this market finds the production of vehicle units to continue; and one wonders how much pricing is being squeezed all the way down the distribution chain. A large "boatload" of vehicles continuing to come off of a 2 year lease and flooding the secondary markets with decent "used" vehicles, eh?
'Course, many folks enjoy the thought of driving a $60K SUV for "x" dollars a month; while in their real life, they could not afford such a vehicle with a traditional auto loan, even with the very low interest loan rate for those with a good credit rating. Also, auto companies pumping their ads that "they" are able to finance those with crap credit ratings for a new vehicle. The sub-prime auto loan area is probably more smelly than folks know or that is reported. NOT a pretty picture for this segment of the economy, IMHO.
Per Sonny and Cher..........."and the beat goes on".
NOTE for today. Trump's "plan" announce at 2pm today about his plan to reduce drug pricing. No scare reflected in yesterday's healthcare sector gains. Will discover today if pharma or other narrow parts of healthcare gets some type of negative price whack.
I've run my mouth enough.
Take care and be assured, that winter is almost gone in Michigan, yes?
Catch

Uh-oh, looks like someone is getting ready to retire...
Sometimes I feel certain "Stores" of value is a convenience for the rich. Like Crap Paintings "You don't understand" from 400 years back, by certain Europeans selling for Millions, only because the rich decide to value it amongst themselves for a certain amount. This way they can have a "Store of Value", and they can "value" it at whatever amount, and then always be able to borrow against it making millions from millions.
Old Paintings are the ANALog equivalent of Bitcoin today. Value it for WTF you want.
Stamp collections are maybe Ripple. Try using the 19th century stamp for actually mailing something to someone. Oh no, but they are worth 40 freakin million to someone who has 40 freakin million lying around.

@bee, thank you for your notes added to the original thread.
From Mr. Madell's write: The eft's in his list vs the VTSMX total market index (U.S.)
The list is broad market of various styles, but not really much to sectors within styles. I will agree to this point of his notation of correlation in the equity area. I see that he mentioned a few sectors for correlation reference, but I didn't see any tech. or health.
http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?VTSMX,VUG,VV,VTV,VOT,VO,VOE,VBK,VB,VBR&n=1258&O=111000
We tend to travel in equity sectors (bond sectors, too) vs broad, although this path has been chosen from time to time with ITOT.
A few of the sectors and active managed funds where we have had monies in the past 5 years to align with the writers time frame.....versus VTSMX. They are: FDGRX , FCNTX , JAGTX , FSPHX , and PRHSX.
http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?VTSMX,FDGRX,FCNTX,JAGTX,FSPHX,PRHSX&n=1257&O=111000
I can't disagree with the correlation he indicated for his choices; but sector choices can and do matter, too.
However, sector investing can cause more emotional risk to the investor; and at times, monetary risk. One being curious about investments in these areas, must also tie this to study and patience.
Sectors have cycles too, for any number of reasons and there are times of what I call the doldrums or "horse latitude" investing.
--- What are horse latitudes and how did they get the name?
There are two sub-tropical high-pressure belts extending approximately between latitudes 15 and 30 degrees to the north and south of the Equator. Horse latitudes are generally areas of high pressure marked by calm, subsiding air that gets heated during descent. It is said that Spanish sailors ferrying horses to the West Indies were usually stuck for months in these calm waters and had to throw their horses into the water to conserve drinking water for themselves. This led to the term ‘horse latitudes’.
The equity markets found "horse latitudes" during 2015 and 2016 to the point of potentially making one scratch their head wondering, "What have I done?"
M* categories continue to indicate the lead of lg cap growth, with tech. and healthcare in the lead for the past 5 years. Small growth is the leader for the year by a tiny bit.
At times, in spite of having to wait; one gets lucky ever now and then.
Okay, done with self-therapy. :)
Take care,
Catch

Several years ago an associate received a 2 day all expenses paid invite to Branson Mo. Only one condition was he had to attend a 2 hour presentation for time shares available in and around Branson. He purchased a time share around Table rock. The following winter there was a water line break and his share of the repairs was over $ 4000.00.
The trip and the pitch were both lousy.

30 years ago my Wife and I received a RSVP through some of our friends for a family investment plan seminar with meal included. (As best as I can remember.) The plan was described as a savings and investment - 30% of your investment went into a popular mutual fund, 30% went into an annuity, and 40% went as a management fee. The food was good but the plan sucked.

I have had lunch with a number of advisors through my many years of investing.. Some I did business with and some I did not. Those that could not correctly answer my questions or said they would have "research it" and they'd get back to me. Well, I simply passed on doing business with them. Folks, I simply asked questions I felt people in the profession should know off the top of their heads.
I never attended many "free lunch" seminars ... and, still decline invitations to attend them today. But, I do indicate an interest for a one on one lunch appointment if I feel it appropriate with my current or a prospective advisor of my good interest. In this way, I get them into my environment one-on-one and often times in this meeting I find out just what they do know ... and, many times what they don't.
Most of the time on group "free lunch" seminars ... I pass. These are simply an easy way for them to qualify you and a limited way for you to qualify them. And, they will pay for lunch to find this out through the questionaire they ask you to fill out during the course of the seminar ... and, then turn it in. In this way they learn a good bit about you ... and, you have learned little about them. And, again, they will pay for lunch to find this out. So, if you are of the "free lunch type" enjoy it at their expense. But, be careful on how you answer their questionaire without being untruthful. Most of all, remember, in most cases, these are sales people who are licensed to sell investment products ... and, they prospect through offering "free" lunches.

While I am with Fido because it seemed the best option of my 403b, I expect to to move most of the funds to Vanguard when I retire. (Interestingly, the university forcibly moved a significant portion of my money from Fido to Vanguard 2 years ago. While the transfers put me more into cash than I planned, that didn't turn out badly.)
I think the described actions are mainly cost-driven, as Fido downsizes in the face of reduced profits.

Berkshire has underperformed the S&P for the last 10 years.
He missed on Amazon and Google (as did I), and I would have bought Facebook at 18, when it was a bit above that, but, unfortunately, it failed to drop.)
I can accept that a fund manager doesn't understand tech, but perhaps he should buy someone who does. I made a bit on Berkshire, but decided I'd be better served with dividend paying funds.
I'd be a lot more confident about Berkshire if Warren was commenting on how well his replacements were doing while he continued to tweak their decisions.
Buy the index funds as he has advised. He's no longer beating them. I'm not sure how many years of outperformance he has to achieve to keep up, but I'm not riding that dream.

@Maurice
When I receive these, I discover as much as possible (curious) about the firm and the person. This includes a FINRA broker check. A few times over the years I have found negative data about a person; and of more interest is that some folks have switched jobs often.......not necessarily a bad sign, but interesting.
I imagine that the business cost of such events are anticipated to be overwhelmed from monies from new clients. The majority of these I receive are folks who have passed "x" number of insurance level exams (read annuity) without other attributes; although about 1/4 are indeed accredited financial planners.
Have not had a dinner.

Hold S&P 500 for 10 years...20 years...not 10-20 minutes

“The S&P 500 Index Fund is the one to use. That’s the one I used in that bet I made for ten years. It’s the one I’ve told the trustee for my wife to put 90% of the funds I leave her in to.”

90% of investors should hold index funds...the rest should own BHK-B (hard to afford A shares). BHK-B stock is like a concentrated fund with no ER.

I agree in recent years I have been stuck with large capital gain distributions in my active taxable funds due to large capital gains that have put me into a higher tax bracket I can't sell them as that would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.